[B-Greek] hUPER w. acc. as location above/over - or not?

George F Somsel gfsomsel at yahoo.com
Thu Mar 10 10:10:58 EST 2011


LSJ lists 5 uses of ὑπέρ hUPER with the acc

1. of Place in reference to motion, over, beyond
2. of Measure, above, exceeding, beyond
3. of Number, above, upwards of
4. of Time, beyond, i.e. before, earlier than
5. in some dialects in the sense of on behalf of

Perhaps you might consider #1 with the example of Iliad 5.15-17

  
     15     Φηγεύς ῥα πρότερος προΐει δολιχόσκιον ἔγχος· 
             Τυδεΐδεω δ᾽ ὑπὲρ ὦμον ἀριστερὸν ἤλυθ᾽ ἀκωκὴ 
              ἔγχεος, οὐδ᾽ ἔβαλ᾽ αὐτόν· 
 george
gfsomsel 


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defend the truth till death.


- Jan Hus
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________________________________
From: Eric S. Weiss <papaweiss1 at yahoo.com>
To: b-greek <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thu, March 10, 2011 7:53:01 AM
Subject: [B-Greek] hUPER w. acc. as location above/over - or not?

I had been taught (and have myself taught) that hUPER with the accusative case 
means "over/above" - i.e., the opposite of hUPO with the accusative case. 

Indeed, Metzger's chart in his Lexical Aids for Students of New Testament Greek 
p. 80 - Table II Geometric Arrangement of the Greek Prepositions - shows 
hUPER w. acc. as meaning physically "above."

Yet in looking today at BDAG, whereas hUPO w. acc. can indeed mean "below" 
in terms of location, there is no corresponding "above" (location) for hUPER in 
the 

definitions.

BDAG hUPO w. acc.: 
B. w. acc. 
- a position below an object or another position, under, w. acc. of place under, 

below 

- marker of that which is in a controlling position, under, under the control 
of, under 

obligation in ref. to power, rule, sovereignty, command, etc. 
- marker of the approximate time of a period, about w. acc.

BDAG hUPER w. acc.:
B. w. acc. 
- marker of a degree beyond that of a compared scale of extent, in the sense of 
excelling, surpassing, over and above, beyond, more than

So, can hUPER w. acc. mean physically above or over something (i.e., the 
opposite of hUPO w. acc.) in NT Greek, or not?

- - -
Eric S. Weiss 



      
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